Cancer: the heavy burden of humanity that refuses to move: the norm

Mercy Wanjau, 39, remembers the rotation of her floor at Mathari Hospital in Nyeri, while the doctor presented her biopsy results. She had stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; and she needed to act fast.

"I broke down and cried. My husband had died from a road accident a few years ago and I imagined how my child would be so young orphan, "she says.
It had started last year with a loss of appetite and weight loss so sudden and fast that everyone was wondering what was tormenting her. She had no symptoms except for night sweats and chills that would occur intermittently. Visits to local hospitals in Nyahururu have treated him for ulcers and low blood levels. A cancer diagnosis, she says, was the least of her expectations.
"No one is preparing you for what lies ahead: the financial hardship, the emotional turmoil, and the physical pain that accompanies it," she says.

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The side effects of chemotherapy have hit hard. Then, she learned that she had run out of her NHIF blanket and that she had to dig in her pocket to save her life. Working as a teapot in an office, her salary was not enough to pay the initial payment of 70,000 shillings required for a CT scan, as well as the cost of subsequent chemotherapy.
"As a cancer patient in a low-income household, you need to be ready to beg and ask for help," she says, thus reinforcing the reality of what's needed to treat cancer in Kenya. Although she considers herself lucky to have been in remission and still being under treatment, many others have not been so lucky.
Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Kenya after infectious diseases. Data from the Kenya Cancer Network estimate that there are 40,000 new cases of cancer each year, with more than 27,000 deaths a year. The network estimates that about 60% of people with cancer are under 70 years old. The main cancers in women are bad and cervical cancer. The cancers of the prostate and the esophagus are the most important.
Despite the alarming numbers, a diagnosis of cancer searches the pockets of families. Many patients and caregivers tell heart-wrenching stories about the treatment of the disease.
Deborah Chebet said that when her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016, they had sold everything so that he could get treatment at KNH and then in India.

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"I had to leave my job and sell our farm hoping it will get better. He died and left me so much in debt. Whenever I hear the word cancer mentioned, I always have chills, "she says.
Data from Afya Smiles Kenya, a leading health website, estimates the cost of chemotherapy at between 10,000 and 82,000 shillings per session in a public hospital and between 35,000 and 500,000 shillings in a private hospital.
According to researchers from the National Cancer Control Program and the National Cancer Institute in Kenya, the cost of treating cancer without cervical cancer in Kenya is between 172,000 and 759,000 shillings.
Patients seeking a basic treatment for bad cancer pay between 175,200 and 1,88 billion shillings while the cost is 758,000 and 2,48 million shillings in case of surgery. corresponds to a lumpectomy, a quadrantectomy, a partial or segmental mastectomy – is involved.
Treatment of prostate cancer in Kenya costs between 13,000 and 1,200,000 shillings, while esophageal cancer costs between 1,000 and 1,200,000 shillings.

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These costs exclude supportive and rehabilitative care and additional investigations undertaken as part of treatment.
On average, a patient can spend more than 1 million shillings for cancer treatment.
Dr. Catherine Nyongesa, founder of the Texas Cancer Center, said the cost of treatment varies depending on the hospital where it is admitted, whether it is private or public or the type of cancer .
"Drug providers should review their prices and more cancer experts should be trained. Treatment should be devolved to all 47 counties and people should enroll in the NHIF, "said Dr. Nyongesa.
Grace Gitau, founder of the Grace Wanjiku Foundation Against Cancer (GWMCF), talks about the importance of cancer screening, saying that her brother's early diagnosis saved her life. "My brother had an aquamous carcinoma, but it was in the early stages. He did not use chemotherapy or radiation therapy and, thanks to the NHIF, we did not pay anything. We only bought an artificial leg at around 50,000 shillings, "said Gitau.

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Statistics indicate that every day at least one person is diagnosed with cancer in Kenya and 10 people a week. Statistics also show that more than 10,000 people travel abroad each year for treatment, and 70% of them go for cancer treatment.

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CancerHealthKenya Cancer Network